U.S. Presses Complaint on Airbus

By DON PHILLIPS and NICOLA CLARK; Don Phillips reported from Washington and Nicola Clark from Paris.

Published: November 16, 2006

The United States filed an updated complaint on Wednesday with the World Trade Organization against European government spending on Airbus, warning that the plane maker would break international rules if it accepted aid to build its new wide-body A350.

The complaint is the latest step in the continuing failure of the United States and Europe to negotiate a settlement to a bitter trans-Atlantic trade dispute. Boeing and Airbus are challenging one another at the W.T.O., each saying the other gets improper government subsidies.

''Today, the United States filed a brief with the W.T.O. that demonstrates that subsidization of Airbus aircraft by the European Union, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom is inconsistent with W.T.O. rules,'' said Gretchen Hamel, a spokeswoman for the United States trade representative in Washington.

But, she said, ''Let me be clear that we are willing to negotiate.''

The filing was largely procedural, Ms. Hamel said, meeting a deadline that now sets Feb. 9 for a reply from Airbus, a unit of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company.

''We are looking forward to the day when the E.U. makes its own filing and all the facts are on the table,'' said Rainer Ohler, a spokesman for Airbus. ''This is long overdue.''

The negotiation remains snagged on the question of what is a permissible subsidy under W.T.O. rules. Boeing says the only major issue to be settled is subsidies for developing new aircraft, known as launch aid. Boeing says Airbus has received large amounts of government money for new planes. That aid must be repaid when the aircraft begins selling.

The European Union says Boeing receives its own government aid through military contracts and local tax breaks. Boeing rejects those claims and refuses to trade them for launch aid in the negotiations. ''The one point that stands out is launch aid, which is a multibillion-dollar advantage unique to Airbus,'' a Boeing spokesman, Richard Dalton, said.